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Franco's World

We've all been treated to Franco's diatribes regarding political parties, lack of conviction in our voting by voting for the best available candidate IOO, & the many discussions of wastefulness at the national level. So I thought this article interesting to say the least, from Forbes - 4-15-13 - Big Muddy, Big Money - some excerpts:

Originally Posted by Forbes

On a brilliant March day aboard the towboat John R Ingram, Rick Calhoun, head of Cargill's American Barge business, was avidly pointing out the sights as we eased down the Mississippi River toward New Orleans at 11mph. There was a lot to see. As a bald eagle floated overhead, the crane operator of a giant Mumbai-bound ship gobbled coal from a Cargill barge. In front of our boat was a vast array of barges, a row of 5 lashed together with another 5, then another 5, then another 5-25 total in all, stretching out 1.000 feet, filled with 45,000 tons of coal & grain.

Industry surrounds us. Dow Chemical, Nucor Steel, Exxon Mobil, Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge & many more industrial giants operate massive complexes on the Mississippi. Taken together the 150-mile stretch fo the river from the gulf of Mexico up to Baton Rouge is the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, moving some 400 million tons of cargo a year. Cargill alone moves more than 90 commodities on the river & operates 1300 barges. Ingram barge Co, which owns the towboat I rode, has roughly 4 times that number. In all 16% of America's coal, 20% of petroleum products & nearly all the fertilizer consumed here are shipped on the Mississippi. The action here is so thick the crew of the Ingram calls it "suicide alley."

There is actually a better name for it: Corporate Welfare. Despite the massive profits rung like Cargill & Ingram, the river barge business has become a ward of taxpayer largesse. -------- & despite the efforts of both the Bush & Obama administrations nothing changes.

We'll now be treated to a

Originally Posted by Franco

Before 1913 federal income taxes were rare & short lived. America became the most prosperous nation on earth. The US Government did not try to police the world or play "Nanny" from cradle to grave. People took responsibility for themselves, their families, & their communities. That is how the founders of America thought it should be, & it worked. It can again.

So after reading the entire above quoted Forbes article:

Originally Posted by Marvin S

How does that work in your state of residence?

became the opbvious question with this response .

Originally Posted by Franco

Classy Marv, typical. One parish (county) & you are going to condemn the entire state? As with most subjects, you are clueless.

Now back to Forbes:

Trains & Trucks largely pay their own way. Barges don't. The Corps of Engineers spends $800 million a year building, operating & maintaining locks, dams & channels on the river system. of this the barge operators 20 cent/gallon tax on diesel fuel contributes about $80 million, barely 10% of the annual spend. The barge operators pay nothing to move their barges through the system. Railroads pay the entire operating cost of their system ( though they received a lot of land, mostly worth little at that time) when installing their initial tracks. Trucking repays most of the damage they do with over $30 billion paid for about $40 billion in highway outlay.

In recent weeks a group of Senators led by Bob Casey of PA, Mary Landrieu of LA & Amy Kobuchar of MN introduced the RIVERS Act & a group of congressmen, led by KY R Ed Whitfield have introduced another acronym-happy bill known as WAVE4. Both bills appropriate $8 billion for new river infrastructure.

There's a lot of verbiage & hysteria in the other portions of the article but it really boils down to this:

1) Franco voted proudly for Mary Landrieu as he felt she was good for the state - while berating us for supporting RMoney
2) Franco brags about LA's low unemployment rate, at whose expense?
3) Franco owes some of us he has called out an apology as apparently he does not know or want others to know how LA's prosperity is derived.
4) If the barges can't pay their own way should they be shut them down?

I guess this is a payback for the years in ND with 1 bird limits while LA enjoyed 4 & 5 bird limits .

We've all been treated to Franco's diatribes regarding political parties, lack of conviction in our voting by voting for the best available candidate IOO, & the many discussions of wastefulness at the national level. So I thought this article interesting to say the least, from Forbes - 4-15-13 - Big Muddy, Big Money - some excerpts:

We'll now be treated to a

So after reading the entire above quoted Forbes article: became the opbvious question with this response .

Now back to Forbes:

& now it gets better .

There's a lot of verbiage & hysteria in the other portions of the article but it really boils down to this:

Pitiful Marv, just a vain and pitiful attempt by someone that claims to be the smartest person in the roon, yet you know very little.

1) Franco voted proudly for Mary Landrieu as he felt she was good for the state - while berating us for supporting RMoney. Compared to who she has run against, I have no problem with having supported her in the past. Try Googling, "most conservative Democrat in the Senate" and see what name pops up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_LandrieuLandrieu serves on some very important sub-committees like Energy. She is a fighter for the state and I like fiesty women! She played a major roll in getting the state an increase on our oil royalties.She is our Iron Lady!Is she perfect? No. But name one politicians that is.
2) Franco brags about LA's low unemployment rate, at whose expense? I brag on how low the unemployment rate in the area(Lafayette) in which I live which is below 4%. It has to do with a very strong Private Sector. An area with no slums, little crime and a keen spirit of independence. Even in 2009 with all the doom and gloom that prevailed in the media, we remained a full-employment area. A testament to the hard working and productive people of the area! Home values have gone up every year even during the housing meltdown. Besides having some of the best waterfowling and fishing in the lower 48. I wouldn't swap it for anywhere else!3) Franco owes some of us he has called out an apology as apparently he does not know or want others to know how LA's prosperity is derived. Wrong again Marv. La's prosperity is in the production of oil & gas. The River is a great resource, but all those companies you named are based out of state and that is where that money goes. Shipping revenue for the state is a drop in the bucket compared to oil & gas! More money is made by the state on tourism than river traffic. 4) If the barges can't pay their own way should they be shut them down? Yes!

I guess this is a payback for the years in ND with 1 bird limits while LA enjoyed 4 & 5 bird limits .

just like we have with your thoughts on wimminz
but nobody starts a "Marv's world" thread.
.

The cartoon is cute, & I'm sure you have a collection of those for what you feel is the appropriate time. While you & others may think you have a handle on how I think about that subject, you really have a bucket with no handle.

Response in red. "most conservative D in the Senate" - Landrieu serves on very important subcommittees like Energy

By that definition her 59 ranking with one being highest would mean the R's were in control of the Senate. She's barely ahead of your "fanboy's" Socialist Senator. She has a 16% lifetime ranking, the same as her last years ranking where she voted 16% correctly on 30 spending bills - meaning she got 25 of them wrong . That's 84% wrong FYI .